Wang Jianlin's personal fortune has reached $42.6 billion. (Photo : Forbes)
With a personal fortune worth $42.6 billion, Wang Jianlin has taken over Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing as China's richest man, according to the latest data from Hurun Research Institute.
The property tycoon's feat can be attributed to the recent listings of Wanda's cinema and real-estate businesses, Hunun Reseach shared.
Eighty-seven-year-old real-estate luminary Li Ka-shing came in second with a personal wealth of $32.8 billion.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Jack Ma grabbed the third spot with a wealth of $27 billion.
The data released on Wednesday also showed that 79.5 percent of the Hurun Global Chinese Rich List 2015 are Chinese mainland billionaires.
The list was followed by the rich men from Hong Kong then Taiwan, with 6.3 and 4.9 percent, respectively.
The data, which comes from across 18 countries and regions, further revealed that there are a total of 1,577 individuals whose personal fortune exceeds 2 billion yuan, 302 of which are from outside the mainland.
The total fortune of these Chinese amount to a whopping $2.1 trillion, a figure tantamount to Russia's GDP and 1.5 times higher than South Korea's.
Meanwhile, the Chinese mainland's 1,254 billionaires have a cumulative wealth of $1.4 trillion.
With 181 billionaires, Beijing has the highest concentration of rich individuals. This was followed by Shenzhen with 111.
Billionaires from the Chinese mainland majorly originated from Zhejiang Province. Outside, the origins can be traced in Fujian and Guangdong provinces.
"A decade ago, the most successful Chinese were those outside the Chinese mainland. Today that has changed completely, with entrepreneurs like Wang Jianlin of Wanda charting a new path," Hunan Report chairman and chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf shared.
Ben Cavender of China Market Research explained that after Chinese entrepreneurs have forayed into the global arena, they "have become more successful over the years and many of their businesses have got high valuations."
"The new wave of Chinese billionaires are very clever and business savvy. They will challenge their management ideas and growth strategies quickly," he added.
